Thunderstricken
by E. M. Dobbins
Summary: Troublesome times have fallen upon Hiccup and the Dragon Riders. Dagur & Alvin have united. The Screaming Death is moving inexorably towards Berk. And out of the northeast comes a disturbing reminder that there may be greater enemies beyond the Barbaric Archipelago. Are Hiccup and Toothless ready to face their greatest challenge yet? Set before & during "Cast Out I & II."
1. Forward

Forward

The best fan fiction is conceived when a writer decides she is going to solve an apparent problem, or plot hole, in a particularly favorite story. Thus, this fan fiction was written to solve two apparent issues in the _How to Train Your Dragon_ universe.

1\. If Meatlug is described in _Gronkle Iron_ as being the slowest of the Berkian dragons, then how in the world was she able to _outfly_ the Screaming Death in _Cast Out, Part 2_?

2\. Given the fact that the entire island of Berk was unaware of dragon hunters (with the possible exception of Stoick, who implies in _How to Train Your Dragon 2_ that Berk is a remote settlement for a reason), what drew the dragon hunters north on a collision course with the Dragon Riders in _Race to the Edge_?

This is my solution to these two problems. In writing this story, I have tried to remain as canon as possible. Any deviation from the canon storyline was carefully considered before implementation, and most deviations are minor.


	2. Chapter 1: An Unexpected Visitor

Chapter One

An Unexpected Visitor

He was a small, rapidly moving dot against the vividly blue skies recently thrown into deep relief by the storms far offshore Berk. Black wings beat a measured rhythm as he pulled steadily towards the island, then folded as he twisted into a dive. At the last second, his lithe body curved upward into a long loop towards a series of sea stacks striking out into deeper waters. Expertly, he wove a tight line through them, and spun through a progression of wind-weathered hollows as smoothly as a needle strikes through fabric. The teenage boy on his back was almost invisible at this distance, but Astrid could just pick out the flaming highlights of his dark brown hair whipped into a tangle by the wind.

"So he's threading a bunch of sea stacks. Big deal," Snotlout scoffed as he leaned against one of Hookfang's twisted horns. "We've done this exercise like, what, a million times already? Booo-ring."

Astrid refused to tear her gaze from the rapidly approaching Night Fury. "That's how he defeated the Screaming Death the first time," she answered almost absently. Uppermost in her mind was the wish to be out there with them. Stormfly, picking up on her mood, chattered anxiously underneath her, the ivory-colored spikes on her frill tipping forward in excitement. "Hang on, girl. Our turn will come soon."

"Yeah, so?"

"It's a strategy we might find useful again, Snotlout," Astrid snapped, unwilling to be pulled from her daydreams of flight.

"Yeah, about as useful as _running away_ , which it _is_ ," Snotlout sneered.

Astrid stifled a sigh and tore her gaze away from Hiccup and Toothless to glare in Snotlout's direction. Beside her, scratching the warts on his Gronckle's back, Fishlegs jumped to his friend's defense. "That's only running away for the unimaginative, Snotlout. He was _leading_ the Screaming Death."

Toothless swept up to the last sea stack, his great wings flapping as he sought to steady himself against the stiff breeze. His big yellow eyes were round and playful; as he dropped next to Stormfly, he stretched his head out towards her and burbled happily.

"And that's how it's done," Hiccup said with only a token sense of pride. "Who wants to go next?"

Astrid was on the point of volunteering when Snotlout began to complain. "Why are we doing this at all? Thawfest is just over a month away, and I have to prep these boys." He flexed his biceps impressively. "Gotta keep the Jorgansson record clean, y'know!" And he leered at Astrid and Hiccup.

Hiccup regarded his cousin sternly. "Last week, Fishlegs and I requested the elders to add a few more events to Thawfest. Threading the needles is one of them. I thought we'd want some friendly practice before we got there, so I arranged for all of us to come out to the sea stacks every morning since that's one of the events we added, but if you'd rather do something else…"

His announcement was interrupted with enthusiastic exclamations from everyone except Snotlout, who had the grace to look briefly sheepish. Even the twins, normally checked out of anything resembling education, appeared interested. Grinning, Hiccup continued, "We use our dragons more than ever, now. The dragon events last year were a crowd favorite, and this year we have more Vikings riding dragons that can participate. Dad's decided to throw the competition open to everyone, not just us. But everyone expects us to do well, so we're going to participate."

"Well, seeing as I'm going _devastate_ the competition, I'll take the first crack at it," Snotlout said as if he hadn't been complaining a few minutes earlier. "Thread the needles, right? Easy."

"There's just one complication," Hiccup said. "Say you actually were leading the Screaming Death through these sea stacks – it wouldn't exactly be a leisurely flight over the island. Ruff, Tuff, you ready for your part?"

Fishlegs, Snotlout, and Astrid looked over at the twins with some surprise. The twins in question looked back with equally astonished faces from their high perch atop Barf and Belch. "Uh…" Tuffnut began.

"Which part are you… uh… talking about?" Ruffnut finished.

"The part I explained to you before we flew our here?" Hiccup looked at them so hopefully that Astrid was forced to bite her tongue over his eternal optimism.

"You were _explaining_ something? I thought your mouth just liked opening up and making sounds all by itself," Tuffnut said.

"Yeah. For all we knew, you were talking to Toothless. Well, you _do_ talk to him a lot!" Ruffnut added. Astrid snorted behind Stormfly's frill. It was just too easy to imagine the Chief's son rambling on and on while the twins completely tuned him out.

"You had to have heard just a bit of it," Hiccup said desperately. "C'mon, what's the thing you two are best at?"

The twins perked up immediately. "Blowing things up," Tuffnut said.

"Causing mayhem! Yak tipping and sheep rustling!" Ruffnut said.

"And…" Hiccup motioned with his hands as if that would direct their train of thought where he wanted it to go.

"And what?" Tuffnut said. "Hiccup, that's _all_ we ever do."

Hiccup sighed patiently, running a hand through his hair. "You're going to play the roll of the Screaming Death and try to take Snotlout out as he threads the sea stacks."

"Wait a minute." Ruffnut directed a very suspicious look in his direction. "You're actually telling us to blow something up?"

Hiccup smiled benignly, hooking his lanky arms into his fur vest and reclining against Toothless, who purred contentedly. "Yep, that's exactly what I'm telling you to do. I want you to make threading the needles as difficult as possible. Just stop short of actually incinerating Snotlout, please."

"As if they stand a chance," Snotlout snorted, oblivious to the twins' cheers. "Hookfang, dive!"

The Monstrous Nightmare grumbled as he rose into take-off position, pausing the last second so that he could throw his unsuspecting rider into the air. Snotlout shrilled like a little girl as he tumbled head over heals towards the frothing sea below. Behind him, his dragon opened his great wings and swooped leisurely after him. Just before Snotlout risked a chilling plunge in the northern sea water, Hookfang snagged one boot in his mouth and rose to dangle his hapless rider over the others.

"Wait until the twins get into position!" Hiccup shouted up at him. "When they are, and Fishlegs gives the signal, you head for the sea stacks with everything Hookfang's got. Thread 'em without getting hit. If you get hit, you're out!"

"Yes, madam chief," Snotlout snarked from his precarious position under Hookfang's chin.

Hiccup took no offense. He merely leaned further back against Toothless and smiled innocently at his cousin. "Just think about all those trophies, Snotlout. All those gleaming-"

"Hookfang, get me out there now!" Snotlout shouted.

As soon as Snotlout was out of earshot, Astrid slid from Stormfly's back and walked over to Hiccup. He was growing taller, she realized belatedly. No longer did she have to tuck in her chin to look him fully in the eye. "So what's the real plan behind all this?" she asked.

Hiccup busied himself with checking the straps on Toothless's saddle. "What makes you think there is any plan?" he answered nonchalantly.

"You're baiting Snotlout. That's not like you. Usually, you do the stupid thing and try to reason with him."

Hiccup grimaced sideways at her. "Honest as usual," he muttered.

She smirked at him through her blond bangs. "C'mon, you know you're gonna tell me sooner or later."

"True," he agreed. "The way I figure it, we have the triple threat of the Screaming Death, Outcast Island, _and_ Dagur hanging over Berk night and day - we need to be ready at any time to defend ourselves, and we both know that the dragons are our only safeguard between those threats and Berk."

Astrid nodded. This knowledge had kept her up late on more than one night, planning strategies and trying not to worry about what might happen.

"I've come up with a series of drills," Hiccup continued, "that are going to help us be a more effective defense, and we're going to practice them over the next few weeks before Thawfest."

"And what has Thawfest got to do with any of this?" Astrid asked, though she was sure she already knew the answer. Watching him try to explain himself was much more fun.

"Well…er…. Snotlout and the twins can be a little…" He rubbed the back of his neck unconsciously. "I thought a little competition for Thawfest trophies might make this whole process… easier."

Astrid grinned widely at him. "Never thought I'd see the day when you went pragmatic."

"Not at all, milady," he responded in the same tone. "I prefer to think of it as killing two birds with one stone, without any actual killing, that is."

"Now, Meatlug! Lava blast!" Fishlegs cried from many feet above the sea stacks. From far beyond the sea stacks, they heard an enormous explosion.

* * *

"I have to admit, this just might work," Astrid called over to Hiccup as they banked leftward over a tall ridge of Berk's primary peak. Catching her words, Hiccup tossed a grin over his shoulder, his green eyes warm. She smiled back, trying not to shiver as the freezing wind blowing off the glacier cut through her clothes.

"I'm sure Fishlegs has explained everything to the others by now," he called back.

"Great! Now maybe you could explain this to me instead of leaving me in the dark like you have _all day_."

"Haven't I explained each exercise to you _thoroughly_?"

"Only after you demonstrated and teased us all to guess!"

"I'm trying to develop your critical thinking skills, Astrid." His smile was annoyingly patient.

Astrid leaned forward, subtly asking her dragon to increase her speed. Stormfly tipped earthward slightly, using the downward momentum to gain speed before grabbing at the wind with her bright blue wings. As they pulled even with the Night Fury, Astrid glared at her friend's patronizing expression. Sometimes, she felt rankled that he loved keeping her on her toes so much.

"I can promise you'll enjoy this one," he said.

"I'm sure I will once I know what it is!"

Hiccup laughed; underneath him, Toothless burbled as he banked in a long, leisurely dive over the dense fir forests on the northeastern side of the island. Ahead, a gleaming beach marched the boundary between island and sea; beyond that, waves crashed over an oyster reef and a few low humps of rock that the high tide never quite covered.

"There, that one," Hiccup said to Toothless, but more for Astrid's benefit. The Night Fury brought them in on a long, smooth glide before backstroking with his wings in order to land lightly on the highest rock. Behind them, the sharp silhouette of the mountain blocked out most of the sunlight. Shadow streamed deep into the water, and away to where the night hung over the horizon. Directly above, a few stars and a sliver of moon shone faintly through the lingering haze of daylight.

"It's really very simple," Hiccup said as Astrid landed her Nadder. "We're going to engage in a stealth exercise. And this time," he grinned wickedly, "we're going to be the invaders."

Astrid burst into a fit of giggles. "Y'mean you're going to leave Berk in the defense of Snotlout and the twins?" she crowed. "That'll last what… two seconds?" Catching her rider's amusement, Stormfly bobbed her head, chattering and swishing her tail dangerously close to Toothless. Toothless barked at her before stepping back a few feet.

"And Fishlegs. Don't forget Fishlegs."

"Great! He can _educate_ us to death."

"Actually…" Hiccup shrugged. "I could see him doing that and getting away with it."

"Well, I'm hungry. We've been flying for hours without a break," Astrid announced, dismounting and unbuckling Stormfly's saddle. "Go grab some fish," she told her dragon. Stormfly squawked gratefully before leaping onto the oyster rock and pawing through the overflowing tidal pools. Hiccup tucked the loose ends of Toothless's saddle out of the way and sent him after Stormfly. The two dragons rapidly made a game out of finding fish, splashing each other in the process.

"Watch out for the water," Hiccup yelped as he dodged one particularly vigorous splash. "It's a bit cold to get wet – ah, no thanks," he added when Astrid offered him some of the food she had brought. "I ate a little while ago."

"Your loss," she quipped, knowing full well he hadn't, and she bit into the old piece of bread stuffed with seaweed wrapped fish (at least, it _looked_ like fish to Hiccup; he had to repress a shudder). "How long before they're in position?"

"I told Fishlegs to take them round the other side of Berk," Hiccup said, seating himself comfortably on the rocks. "That's the long side, so probably not yet. Fishlegs'll signal when they're ready." Absently, he glanced left, his green eyes scanning the north-eastern horizon in a thoughtful way.

"Oh no, not that look again," Astrid groaned. She had finished gulping down most of her food and was washing her hands in the sea water lapping around their rock.

"What look?"

"That look like you're ready to take off and never come back." Some days, she wondered why he stayed on Berk when the entire world was his to explore, now that he had Toothless.

"I wouldn't do that!" Hiccup scoffed. "It's just that…" He turned to look northeast again. "We've never explored in that direction. Most of the Barbaric Archipelago is west or south of Berk. Beyond that are other lands, I suppose, big lands, but northeast? No one has ever gone northeast. Ever wonder why?

"The cold comes from that way," Astrid said. "Why would you want to go into it?"

"To see what hasn't been seen!" His green eyes gleamed.

"Maybe there's nothing to see," Astrid shrugged. Her life was on Berk, and mostly taken up by preparing to defend Berk. Hiccup's wanderlust was a worrying factor in her life, not something she necessarily shared with him, though she did enjoy discovering new lands and dragons.

"No wait, there is something to see," Hiccup said. He was frowning. "Look that way – do you see it?"

Astrid squinted. "No?"

"It looks like… a really big bird? No, there aren't any that big around here…"

"A dragon then," Astrid surmised sensibly. "They frequent around here, in case you hadn't noticed."

Hiccup raised one defined eyebrow. "No, really?"

"How long do you estimate before Fishlegs gets them into position," Astrid said, ignoring his glare.

"Oh, that could take a while," Hiccup admitted. "He said not to expect them before sundown."

"Excellent." Astrid grinned widely. "Then we have plenty of time to check it out."

* * *

"I don't get it," Fishlegs said "I've signaled three times! They should've been here by now!"

"Well, you did say _stealth_ , so maybe they're _sneaking_ up on us as we speak," Tuffnut said. When Fishlegs gave him a blank stare, Ruffnut added, "Yeah, you know, you had our attention when you said the words _prank_ and _terrify_ , and-"

"This exercise shouldn't take this long," Fishlegs interrupted impatiently. "Hiccup and I tried this last week and-"

"You pulled a prank without us?" Tuffnut shouted.

"No, we had to demonstrate before the elders which events we thought needed added to Thawfest. Oh, where _are_ they? I don't like being out on this side of the island after dark. There are too many-"

"Boars!" the twins shouted in unison, pumping their fists into the air.

"So, does that mean we're done here?" Snotlout asked. "I got a date with a yak butter parfait back yonder."

"No, it doesn't!" Fishlegs glared at Snotlout. "I'll fly above the treeline and see if I can spot them. All of you _wait here_."

Meatlug was happy to lift off the ground where they had been sitting for the last hour. So happy, in fact, that her rider got smacked in the face several times by the tangle of branches. "Mealug!" Fishlegs exclaimed reproachfully after the fourth smack.

"Rawrk," Meatlug said apologetically. She was more careful through the last few feetthe forest canopy.

"Aw, it's ok, girl, I know it's getting dark," Fishlegs added, reaching down and scratching the joint between jaw and skull. In a few seconds, they came up into the rich colors of twilight. Relieved to be away from the nonsense below, Fishlegs took a deep breath of fresh sea air. "Let's take our time, girl," he said to Meatlug. "The others won't mind if we go looking for Hiccup a bit, will they?"

Meatlug chugged happily over the trees. Fishlegs leaned back on her broad back and half shut his eyes. The ground on this side of the island was rocky, and steep, sheering straight down into the foaming waters. Vaguely, Fishlegs remembered that there was a broad sweep of oyster reefs striking out towards deeper waters, and he half wondered if that was where Hiccup and Astrid had put themselves down. Part of him wondered what they were doing – it wasn't like Hiccup to be distracted from a dragon training exercise, and Astrid winged him in almost everything he did.

He didn't see it coming. It was there before he realized that Meatlug had halted over the reefs, her wide mouth open in a broad, Gronkle snarl. Rising before them out of the dark, out of the abyss like a demon from hell, was a spectral, batlike shape. Fishlegs' mouth dropped and he clutched the promel of his saddle convulsively as he took in the broad wings with their curved, sickle claws, the prominent dorsal spines, and enormous mouth of the Skrill. That mouth, lined with wickedly sharp teeth, was opening, and inside the throat was glowing white hot with electric fire. Fishlegs opened his mouth, too, to scream, but the only thing that came out was a high-pitched whimper.

"Fishlegs, get out of here!" Hiccup shouted as Toothless materialized out of nowhere in front of Meatlug. The Night Fury screamed as he opened his mouth to fire.

Fishlegs found his voice. "Meatlug, drop!"

Meatlug dropped like a stone, catching herself above the crashing surf. She roared angrily as the Skrill fired at Toothless. A second later, a terrible shockwave burst above them, nearly knocking her into the sea.

"Oh Thor, oh Thor, oh Thor, oh _Thor_!" Fishlegs babbled, clinging to Meatlug for all he was worth.

As Toothless chased after the Skrill, Astrid banked Stormfly next to Meatlug. "We need to get Snotlout and the twins out here now!" she shouted.

"Where did it come from?" They were speeding towards the island as fast as Meatlug's little wings would allow her to go, but Fishlegs sensed that Astrid wished they could go faster. "I thought Hiccup-"

"It's not the same one. Fishlegs, someone is _riding_ it!"

Fishlegs froze, his mouth falling open for a second time; he swiveled to look at the distant figures of the Skrill and the Night Fury as they circled each other hundreds of feet above the sea. Hiccup was shouting, but his words were badly distorted by the wind.

"Who could ride a Skrill?" he shrieked.

"Dagur could," Astrid cried. "He must have found another one."

"Then the fleet must be close by," Fishlegs said. "They could be on the other side of the island right now! Think of it, Astrid – it's the perfect diversion!"

"Go get Snotlout and the others and get back to Berk as soon as possible. They need warning. Then wait for us at the needles." Astrid's face was grim; clearly she was thinking that a warning would be unnecessary by the time Fishlegs got there, but she didn't want to say it out loud. Fishlegs nodded and shifted forward in his saddle to aid Meatlug's flight. "I'm going to go help Hiccup," Astrid called after him. "He's going to need it!"

Hiccup could just see the small figure – a nearly motionless hump – ducked behind the sharp spikes on the Skrill's crown. Somewhere in the tangle of plasma blasts and electric shocks, he had glimpsed a pale face and enormous, sea grey eyes. They weren't the eyes of a Berserker, and for that he was relieved, but he was faced with the more immediate problem of trying to reason with whoever was brave, stupid, or lucky enough to be riding a creature like a Skrill. And how had he – or she – tamed it? It was one thing to tame and ride a Night Fury, but Skrills were proud and murderous. They were, he remembered briefly, almost as feared as Night Furies.

"It looks tired, Bud," Hiccup said to Toothless. "Look at the way its flying – must've been out at sea for a long time. Hours, maybe days. Huh…"

Toothless anticipated him by pushing vigorously against the bracing air with a few hard wing strokes. As they drew even with the dragon's haunches, the Skrill screamed and swung left, striking towards the interior of the island. Its great mouth was open and gulping air as it strained to get away. The small figure on its shoulders was clutching its neck. If only he could get close enough, Hiccup thought, then he could speak to the rider.

"We mean you no harm!" he shouted, but his words were torn away by the wind.

The Skrill suddenly wreathed itself in tongues of lightening – taking great care not to harm its rider – before twisting into a steep dive. Toothless plunged after it, easily keeping clear of the creature's whipping tail. Just as the Skrill began to level out of the dive, it opened its mouth and channeled a white hot burst right in front of them. Hiccup barely had time to close his eyes and take one gasping breath before the burst washed over them – tingling and burning hot – and exploded. A shockwave like he had never felt before hit him squarely in the back, throwing him onto Toothless's neck. The Night Fury yelped as the same wave stretched the sail skin on his wings, hurling them forward at an incredible rate.

Shaking, Hiccup pushed himself back into his saddle and stared at the rapidly receding Skrill. "Wow…" he coughed.

Toothless growled and began beating his wings hard again to regain lost ground. He was gaining altitude, swinging into a smaller, tighter circle behind and above the Skrill.

"Hiccup!" he heard Astrid scream from behind him. Turning, he saw Stormfly struggling to catch up beneath them. "I sent the others to warn the village!" she shouted up to him.

"Good!" he yelled back, turning his head so the wind wouldn't steal away his words. "Did you see that?"

Stormfly was almost even with them now. Astrid's blue eyes were wide and her face was white. "Yeah, I saw it. What was that?"

"How the Skrills ride lightening, I think." He frowned. "I've tried reasoning with the rider, Astrid, but he just won't listen."

"Or can't. Toothless can barely keep up with that thing."

The words flew out of Hiccup's mouth almost before the idea cemented itself firmly into his mind. "We'll chase it the long way around. I'll stay on the seaside, and you'll stay island side. Head towards the needles. We need to reason with this rider if we can!"

"Reason with it?"

"This is no Berserker, Astrid!"

Astrid gave him one startled glance before wheeling Stormfly towards the steep foothills around Berk's mountain. Beneath them, the fir spruce forest rose to the barren heights of the high ridges, then fell into open, wooded valleys. She shuddered, remembering the wreck the last Skrill had left on Silent Sven's farm – not something she wanted repeated, not on _her_ watch. To her right, she could barely see Toothless against the dark sky, firing an occasional plasma blast to keep the Skrill from heading out to sea. She imagined he would still be trying to get the rider's attention, eternal optimist that he was.

* * *

Fishlegs was waiting for her at the needles. So were Snotlout and the twins, though the former looked clearly put out by the situation. "There's no fleet," he announced as Stormfly dropped next to Meatlug.

"Yeah, all this bunch of rucus for nothing," Snotlout yawned. "Why not let Hiccup play all he wants with the Skrill while we go put our feet up? Seems like-"

"Hiccup doesn't think the rider is Berserker, but he wasn't able to exactly converse with him, either," Astrid interrupted Snotlout. "That rider has a few tricks up his sleeve when it comes to riding his Skrill."

"Still could be Dagur," Fishlegs speculated.

"Hiccup didn't think so."

"Yeah, well, Hiccup has been wrong before," Snotlout interjected, irritated at Astrid's dismissal of him.

"Maybe it's a sneaky Skrill," Tuffnot said. "I mean, here we were supposed to do this prank thing, or whatever, and this _thing_ comes _sneaking_ up on Berk out of nowhere-"

"Tuffnut, I've heard Snotlout make more sense," Astrid cried, exasperated.

""Of course my fine lady," Tuffnut said. "I _never_ make any sense."

"Incoming!" Fishlegs shouted.

As one, the dragon riders looked up to see the Skrill looming over them, gleaming purple and black in the middle of a tangle of electricity. Its yellow eyes gleamed wickedly. Astrid shuddered, wanting only a little imagination to see it as some creature from the underworld, all its thought bent to some malicious purpose against which they had no hope. Then she shook her head – a dragon was just a dragon.

Hiccup and Toothless were circling it, winking in and out of the dark. The Skrill screamed at them repeatedly, a chilling, high-pitched sound almost like a painful whistle.

"We mean you no harm!" Hiccup shouted roughly. "Come down at talk with us!"

Astrid could see the rider now, peering down from behind the crown spikes, and she realized the rider was afraid. Afraid of what?

The Skrill folded his wings and dived. Hiccup and Toothless went after it without a second thought. As he turned like a wraith through the network of hollows and cliffs, the Night Fury repeatedly blasted the rocks with his sonar. Ahead of them, the Skrill struggled to stay ahead, forced to illuminate the air with his lightening in order to see where he was going. Hiccup almost crowed with relief when he realized that Toothless was rapidly gaining on them.

Just then, the Skrill made a serious miscalculation and slammed into a sea stack. Scrambling uselessly with its claws on the rock, it fell almost a hundred feet before it managed to right itself. When it had, it screamed again, and dived, for a small figure was falling swiftly towards the swelling sea below. Toothless dived, too, and he dived faster. Hiccup had no time to think, only to react, as he reached for the limp figure. Catching it nearly knocked the wind out of him, especially when Toothless's wings gave a tremendous flap and hauled them away from the water. Behind him, he heard a devastating cry from the Skrill.

"Hurry, Toothless!" he shouted.

The Night Fury rumpled anxiously as they swept over the sea stacks. Hiccup was relieved to see Astrid, Fishlegs, and the twins flanking him as they made for the village. They were almost back at Berk, almost overhead of the knot of alarmed Vikings waiting for them, before he looked down to see who he was carrying. His eyes widened in amazement.

"A girl!"


	3. Chapter 2: Welcome to the Dragon Academy

Chapter Two

Welcome to the Dragon Academy

Stoick Horrendous Haddock, being Chief of Berk, enjoyed with that distinction the privilege of one of the largest buildings on the island as his home. Since the death of his wife, the size of this home had been somewhat of a disadvantage for two reasons. First, there was more of it to burn if stray dragon fire came near it. Second, the empty space was a constant, nagging reminder of what would never be. It was also, he often reflected, a lot for a single man to keep clean. Tonight, however, that spaciousness was a boon, for gathering around his hearth were no less than seven people, discounting the Night Fury hanging from the rafters and the dragon heads filling door and window frames.

Hiccup had found some old grain sacks in the back lean-to – rough and worse for wear, but clean – and had scattered them before the roaring fire and laid the girl on them when he had finally managed to come in. Stoick found the girl to be something of a puzzle – her dark hair, full mouth, and sallow skin triggered disturbing memories he would like to have forgotten long before he had forcibly isolated this lonely outpost of his. But Hiccup said she had flown out of the northeast. No one lived north east of Berk.

She was clothed in an old man's shirt so badly weathered that its original color could not be discerned. Too big for her slight frame, it was belted about the waist with a length of shipping rope. Her trousers had also probably been worn by a man at some point; they were baggy and badly frayed about her knees. She had no boots, and the heels of her feet were as hard as yak horns.

Hiccup, flanked by the dragon riders, was gazing at her thoughtfully. One arm bore a significant scorch mark, and he was rubbing it absently. Astrid, next to him, was trying to apply vinegar to the burn and kept swatting his hands away. "Hold still," she hissed, "or this is going to hurt a lot worse."

Gothi straightened up from her examination of the girl and spread a thin layer of beach sand on the hearth, and began writing. Gobber, his massive frame looming over the ancient crone, was making an effort to translate.

"She says… eh… the girl has come from… a long water willow… way… I said way!" He ducked as Gothi swept her staff at him.

"Where from, Gothi?" Stoick asked, leaning his broad hands on his knees.

Gothi frowned and scribbled some more.

"She says the north-eastern sea is full of holes – ouch! – horrors. Those who venture forth there are drummed – doomed – Gothi, I can't say that in front of the kids! – to never return." Gobber eyed Gothi's staff warily as she shook it at him.

"Is there anything else," Stoick sighed.

Gothi swept the sand clean and began a third time.

"Allow me," Fishlegs said. "Ah! The girl is very young – no surprise there – and malnourished. Otherwise she's fine. She needs food, water, and rest when she wakes up, but she's actually okay."

"Apart from the bump on her head," Ruffnut snickered. "Just look at that goose egg!"

"Let's hope she does wake up soon," Stoick said. "It's bad enough that we have to rebuild half the village. We don't want to rebuild the arena, do we?" And he gave his son a hard look.

Hiccup winced. "Sorry, Dad," he muttered.

"Smiggle spor yulknog," Snotlout said.

"He says that the Skrill is a menace, and that Ruffnut and I need to be the ones to train it," Tuffnut translated, eliciting a glare from Snotlout.

"I wouldn't let you near that dragon for all the gold in the Barbaric Archipelago," Stoick said sternly. "We don't need a repeat of last time, do we?"

"At least we caught it this time," Hiccup muttered to himself.

Gothi thumped her staff on the floor and pointed to the girl, now moving restlessly against the grain sacks. With a low groan, she began to blink, her forehead wrinkling as she became aware of the pain emanating from her bruise. Slowly, she pushed herself against the floor and sat up, blinking furiously as she tried to regain control over her vision. A terrific shudder passed through her frame as she traced the goose egg on her forehead with one hand. Then she froze.

At first, her expression was one of bewilderment, then – as she registered the warm bodies and crackling fire – fear. Her green-gray eyes widened, and her mouth opened in a soundless, gasping cry.

"It's alright, lass," Stoick said gently. "You're safe here."

"You had a nasty fall," Hiccup interjected. "Toothless and I caught you before you hit the water."

Her mouth closed, but her chest continued to rise and fall rapidly, as though she had been running a long way. Stoick thought she looked like a downed dragon run out of shots, surrounded on all sides by Vikings with only one intent. There was that much hopelessness in her eyes. He swallowed convulsively, unsure if the emotions were coming from her or emanating from himself, and uncomfortable with the thought of either.

Hiccup knelt in front of the girl, both to make himself seem smaller and to look her squarely in the eye. "I'm sorry we chased you," he said. "I tried calling to you several times, but your dragon was just too fast. We didn't mean to hurt you." He smiled in what he hoped was a friendly way. "He's one fine dragon. I've only seen one other Skrill before. Kind of rare, aren't they?"

Every move Hiccup made she watched with a burning intensity, her body cowering back towards the fire. She continued to be silent, but a kind of question came into her eyes; she braced her palms on the grain sacks as she moved her legs underneath her.

"He's in our arena, the place where we train our dragons," Hiccup hastened to say. "After you got knocked out, we had to rope him in. He was pretty upset with us."

"Higgle goopler funith masrath," Snotlout snorted.

"Yeah, totally agree with you there," Tuffnut said. "No one burns down a village more awesomely than a Skrill does!"

"Priggol spor!"

Toothless, who had been watching the entire scene below with great interest, chose that moment to swing down from the rafters using his long, black tail. Wide-eyed, he burbled at the girl, extending his nose for contact. Immediately, the girl's wary expression gave way to one of absolute terror. Jumping back, she found her voice in a thin, wretched shriek. The next second, she flattened herself on the floor, covering her head with her arms, a strangled noise bubbling deep from her chest. So accustomed were the others to Toothless that this reaction completely shocked them. Toothless himself looked hurt, and turned his head towards Hiccup with such an expression of patient confusion that the boy almost laughed.

"Well, at least we know she has a voice," Gobber said. "For a moment there, I thought she was related to Gothi." He ducked as Gothi pointed her staff at him menacingly.

"He's very gentle," Hiccup said, absently stroking the smooth scales on Toothless's head. "No different than a Skrill… well, ok, they _look_ different, but they're both strike class dragons, y'know. Wicked fast and a dead shot, right? But that's not everything. There was a lot we didn't know about Night Furies until we met Toothless. He's really very friendly."

"Goggil gringle torbut," Snotlout scoffed. "Fulhook fangerfog miganit."

"He says Toothless is a big pushover and Barf and Belch is the scariest dragon on Berk," Tuffnut translated helpfully.

"Nottil epir sodalar!"

"Then don't say what you don't mean!"

The girl finally looked beyond Hiccup at the other dragon riders, peeking behind the barrier of her hands and arms. Astrid badly wanted to shiver when the girl's eyes landed on _her_ ; she felt like she was being measured. Just like those last few seconds before engaging in combat, she realized. You sized up your opponent and weighed your chances. Did you have enough resources and strength to win the day? Were you smart enough to outwit your opponent lacking the prior two? She remembered the last awful seconds before the Skrill had crashed; certainly, they had _all_ been engaged in a kind of combat. For all the girl knew, the dragon riders had meant to kill both her and her Skrill. And one of them had been riding a _Night Fury_. "Run and pray it does not find you," she murmured aloud.

"What?" Hiccup asked, glancing back at her.

"We're going about this wrong," she said. "Get Toothless out of here. He's just going to scare her more. Sorry, Toothless." She patted the dragon's head apologetically. While Hiccup led the insulted dragon away, she knelt in front of the girl, now sitting up despite her trembling arms.

"Let's start at the beginning," she said. "I'm Astrid Hofferson. The boy with the Night Fury is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, and he's Chief Stoick's son." She nodded towards the chief. "That's Gobber – our resident blacksmith – and Gothi, the village healer and one of our elders. This is Snotlout, Hiccup's cousin, and that's Fishlegs, our walking dragon codex. And those two over there are the Thorston twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut."

It was working – putting names to faces was working. The girl had marginally relaxed and her gaze was no longer piercing. Astrid had to work hard to keep from grinning triumphantly at Hiccup, who by this time had marched back to the tight circle.

"We all, - well, _most_ of us – have dragons," Astrid continued. "I have a Deadly Nadder named Stormfly. What is your dragon named?"

The girl hesitated, and took an enormous breath. "Thunderstrike," she whispered.

"Suits him," Astrid grinned. "What is _your_ name?"

"Thora," the girl said, a little more loudly.

"Thora what?" Hiccup asked. The girl looked at him blankly. "Just Thora?" he guessed and she nodded.

"Well, Thora," Stoick said. "How did you come by a Skrill?"

An impressive range of emotions ran across Thora's face; memories, Astrid guessed. Uncertainty seemed to win the day, and she glanced doubtfully at the chief before answering, "The dragons came from the north this summer. _Many_ dragons. My father's ship followed them into the unknown waters north of the Archipelago. Then…. _he_ came."

"She's a ship's drudge!" Gobber exclaimed.

"A sea captain's daughter, you mean," Hiccup said a little dryly.

"Your father hunts dragons," Stoick said. It wasn't a question.

"He _hunted_ dragons," Thora replied flatly. "I alone survived."

"How?" Fishlegs asked eagerly. "Skrills are fearsome dragons, and I've read they carry grudges for a long time. Didn't Thunderstrike see you as the enemy?"

Thora shrugged, indicating that this was as much a mystery to her as to them. "It was a bad storm," she said softly, "and he was injured. I caught hold of the rope around his neck, and he pulled me through the waves to an island and… because he saved my life, I saved his."

"Well, she's mighty lucky she didn't meet Dagur while she flew here," Gobber remarked, scratching the back of his head with his iron claw. "Can you imagine what that young upstart would-"

"Gobber, that's the _last_ thing I want to imagine right now," Stoick said wearily. "Thank the gods she came here instead of Berserk Island."

"We're at war with the Berserkers," Astrid explained. "Dagur wants to wipe us off the map."

"Well, that's not entirely true," Tuffnut said. "He wants to wipe _Hiccup_ off the map. Because he rides a Night Fury."

"He would have killed you for riding a Skrill," Fishlegs added.

Thora's face was pale underneath her summer tan. "I almost…"

"You didn't. That's good enough," Astrid said encouragingly.

"Fibble foger noddi," Snotlout said. "Fangha ibble sop."

"Snotlout got hit by one of Thunderstrike's lightening bolts," Astrid said when Thora wrinkled her face in confusion. "He'll be that way for a while."

"How long did it take you to fly here?" Stoick asked.

"A day and a night," Thora answered. "Thunderstrike is very fast." At last, she looked him directly in the eye with an understanding that hit him square in the gut. "We were the only ship that came north."

Hiccup finally realized that there was a deeper subtext resonating between his father and Thora, and opened his mouth to question it when a loud pounding on the door startled everyone. "Chief, that Skrill is about to tear the arena apart! Something must be done!"

"That didn't take long," Gobber said.

"Can you get him under control," Stoick asked.

Thora rose to her feet, trembling with vertigo and fatigue. "Yes," she whispered. "Would you… could you show me where he is?"

* * *

The anxious crowd gathered outside the chief's hut was brilliantly backlit by several burning homes and other sundry buildings. "Why hasn't anyone stopped the fires?" Stoick roared. The crowd scattered.

Thora gazed around in horror. " _Thunderstrike_ did this?" she whispered.

"Er… he was mad at me and Toothless," Hiccup said. "He almost tore Berk apart looking for you.

Astrid flanked Thora to offer a psychological barrier against the curious crowd which had regrouped and insisted on following them. Thora could walk without assistance, but her steps were faltering ones. When they came within earshot of the arena, she pickered her lips and whistled a few notes of a common sea shanty. Lightening shattered the night, followed by a high-pitched wine that went straight up everyone's spine in a most unpleasant way.

"Will you be safe with him?" Astrid inquired in an undertone.

"Nothing is completely safe with any dragon," Thora stated in a way that suggested she enjoyed the danger. Astrid gave her an approving thumbs up as Hiccup and Snotlout pushed open the doors to the training arena. Above them, the crowd spread along the high platform that shadowed circular space below. On the far end, the Skrill lay bound in thick shipping rope, one end drawn securely through an iron chain hanging from the wall. As Thora approached, he struggled to get to his feet, growling so fiercely that a series of gasps ran through the gathered crowd. Thora moved ahead of the group and approached the Skrill without hesitation. Next to him, she appeared fragile, like a young child. Carefully, she ran her hands over the ropes until she found the critical length. There was a kind of jerking motion in her hands, and then the ropes gave way.

Stretching his sickle-clawed wings to their fullest, the dragon rose high over the girl. He wasn't quite so large in length or breadth as Toothless, but he was _many_ times the size of the girl. He loomed over her. Slowly, he bowed his great head to hers and pressed the smooth end of his horn against her forehead. A deep purr resonated from his chest. Thora leaned into him, her tiny hands cupping the small end of his lower jaw and circling around the metallic spikes framing it.

"Ship's drudge or not, she's a Viking," Stoick said to Gobber.

As Stoick spoke, Thunderstrike whipped his head towards him and roared, lightening shattering in tangles around his body. There was no mistake the challenge in his cry, or the wicked glare he cast around him. Toothless responded in kind by leaping in front of the dragon riders and screaming his own challenge, flapping his wings in a dominating display. Behind him, Meatlug, Stormfly, Barf and Belch, and Hookfang echoed similar sentiments.

"I _told_ you Skrills carry grudges!" Fishlegs wailed. "Oh, Thor!"

Thora pressed herself underneath Thunderstrike's left wing and pushed. The dragon staggered back, but his long tail whipped around and encircled her, forming a distinctive barrier between them and the others. To everyone's surprise, it was Toothless who received the first warning shot, a small burst of lightening that exploded when it hit the stone floor of the arena.

"Thora, he knows you're afraid of Toothless!" Hiccup shouted. "You've got to convince him that Toothless isn't going to hurt you!" To Toothless, he said, "It's okay, he's not _really_ going to hurt us." And he tugged hard at the dragon's saddle.

Toothless swished his tail angrily and glanced back in amazement. _You've got to be kidding me_ , he seemed to say. "Growr," he said, punctuating his statement with a decisive stamp of one claw.

Thora pushed herself away from Thunderstrike and reached up behind his spiked crown. Wordless sounds flowed from her lips – musical, broken articulations – as she ran her hands down his neck in a futile attempt to soothe his fury. Thunderstrike didn't hurt her, but he screamed again, slamming his tail against the rock wall of the arena to make his point. Dust flew everywhere. When it cleared, the Skrill was facing down Toothless once more, the expression in his blazing yellow eyes positively murderous.

"Toothless, no!" Hiccup yelled at precisely the same minute the Night Fury launched forward. Thunderstrike leaped into the air, flapping his wings mightily, and began gathering a full electric charge into his body.

"Hiccup, get everyone out of here now! If he fires, we're dead!" Stoick yelled. Above them, the crowd was scattering, frightened screams punctuating the stillness of the night air.

"Throw Snotlout at him," Ruffnut yelled. "Maybe that'll untangle his tongue!"

"Smiggle sporf!"

"We can't leave Thora in here with them!" Hiccup shouted as the others stumbled towards the exit. "And I'm _not_ leaving Toothless."

"Son, that was an order from your chief, not your father," Stoick said sternly, turning back and planting his feet on the ground.

The Skrill opened his mouth to fire. Toothless crouched in front of Hiccup and began charging a plasma blast. Before either dragon could fire, however, Thora ducked underneath Thunderstrike and landed in front of Toothless. Trying not to look at the Night Fury, she jammed her fists into her waist and stared up at her dragon. "Come down here _at_ _once!_ " she shouted. Her voice reverberated off the rocks.

Thunderstrike's mouth closed with an audible snap as he glared down at her. Thora was shaking head to toe from her close proximity to the fuming Night Fury, but there was real fire snapping in her grey-green eyes. "You've made your point," she said as her dragon dropped gracefully to the ground. "T…Toothless is a friend. He won't hurt us. See?" And she reached one hand behind her.

Hiccup held his breath, unsure if his dragon would take the hint. Toothless remained motionless for long, terrible seconds before he brought the flat of his head cautiously underneath Thora's fingers. A terrific shudder ran the length of her body, nearly toppling her to the ground, but Toothless bumped his shoulder under her hip, steadying her. Thunderstrike trembled with agitation, but his huge mouth closed and the brilliant sparkles of light faded from his body. An expression of such palpable confusion came into his face that Hiccup found himself laughing weakly. He felt completely sick to his stomach.

"Definitely a Viking," Stoick murmured as he walked past his son towards the dragons. The Skrill drew himself up proudly before the chief, who was tall enough to still look him in the eye. "Well, Thora," Stoick continued, "it seems that you'll be staying with us from now on. My son runs a training academy here, and I'm sure he would love an opportunity to add a Skrill to his dragon roster."

"Thunderstrike is _mine_ ," Thora said with only a touch of asperity.

"I don't plan on riding him," Hiccup said while the others laughed.

"It's not like that," Astird said when she could stop laughing (was she laughing because she was amused or relieved?). "Hiccup trains _us_ to better ride our dragons."

"And seeing that it isn't safe for you to be on your own with Dagur on the loose, it makes logical sense," Fishlegs added eagerly. "Besides, it's the first chance we'll really have to study a _Skrill_. Oh, I can't _wait!"_ And he clapped his hands together.

"Keeg oodle mot," Snotlout groaned.

"Here's my proposition, Thora," Stoick said. "We will offer you safe sanctuary on Berk for as long as you need it. In return, you can help Gothi, our village healer, in gathering the supplies she needs. She hasn't been feeling well lately, and needs a young helper. Since you have a dragon, you can fly all over the island for her."

"It's not a bad job," Hiccup said. "I've done it myself. You'll still have plenty of time to train with us, and you'll get to know Berk really well."

Thora was silent for a long space, one hand absently scratching Thunderstrike under the chin. At length, she said doubtfully, "It sounds _reasonable_."

"More reasonable than being a ship's drudge," Gobber remarked. "Eh, Gothi?"

"I don't want to keep you here forcibly," Stoick said. "But I can't let you leave Berk – not with that Skrill."

"I couldn't anyway," Thora said softly. "Not with winter coming."

Faintly alarmed that his father's offer was going to sound more like a prison sentence than sanctuary, Hiccup inserted himself between them and stuck out his hand. "Welcome to the Dragon Academy, Thora!"

Stoick sighed as the two teens shook hands. Sometimes, he wasn't sure which was harder: being a father, or being chief. And he still had a whole village of puzzled Vikings to soothe before the night was over!


	4. Chapter 3: A Storm Comes to Berk

Chapter Three

A Storm Comes to Berk

The seasons of Berk were as tumultuous as any other location in the Barbaric Archipelago, but they were rendered uniquely severe by a warm current of water originated far to the south, which turned an otherwise cold and barren landscape into a weather war ground. From this warm current, thunderstorms rose to wonderful heights, shattering the skies with lightening and washing the air clean with sea-spun rain. Late summer always saw a rash of these storms as the cold air from the north commenced its fight south. When these storms joined forces, and raged fiercely over the high seas, Stoick would command the entire village to wait them out in the Great Hall.

Today was one such a day, and Hiccup fully expected to spend the night in the bowls of the island when they returned home, but before that, he wanted to see Thunderstrike fly. As three mighty thunderheads rolled towards Berk, the dragon riders flew out to a series of sea stacks which were all that remained of a once beautiful island. They landed just as a great yawning mouth of cloud divided the heavens to the west, its underbelly churning with wind and rain. It was still a few miles off, but they could feel the drop in temperature, and smell the moisture in the air.

Thunderstrike was the last dragon to drop onto a sea stack. Growling anxiously, he pitched forward onto the calloused knuckles of his wings and shambled forward towards the sheer drop. As he leaned over the edge, Thora's knees slipped behind his crown and she leaned backwards against his polished spines. One hand shaded her gray-green eyes from the blazing sunlight as she measured the prodigious height of the immense storm before them.

Her appearance had improved remarkably since the night of her arrival. Her dark, ragged hair was clean and brushed; the bruise on her forehead had withered completely away. No longer dwarfed by the rough men's clothing she had been shipwrecked in, she was dressed in an old but serviceable set of leather and woolen garments Gothi had procured from Thor only knew where. Her boots were entirely new and courtesy of Gobber, who claimed that he had "found" them while deep cleaning the smithy (his announcement had elicited everything from pained coughs to downright laughter).

Thunderstrike seemed to be unaware of anything but the storm; to him, the other dragons and their riders did not exist. Lifting his head into the wind, he tested it, his nostrils flaring, his body trembling. He could not understand the delay. The voice of the storm called him, yet Thora held him back. In distress, he roared and lashed his whiplike tail.

"Alright, we have maybe a half an hour before that storm hits these stacks!" Hiccup shouted. "Thora, I want you to take him up into the storm like you said you could! But be careful, please!"

"Oh, you tell _her_ to be careful!" Snotlout cried. "Never mind that the rest of us are in momentary danger from the high seas and wind. Not to mention lightening!"

"Please don't be cautious," Tuffnut said. "I'm dying – literally _dying_ – to see Thunderstrike in all of his destructive glory. Don't hold back, Thora. For Thor's sake, don't hold back!" And he whipped an imaginary tear from his eye.

Thora turned to look at them, her full mouth stopping just short of curling into a smile. Then she shifted forward. Screaming with joy, Thunderstrike folded his wings and dove towards the sea. At the last second, he stretched the slender bones and the sail-skin between them snapped and bloomed outwards. Thora's body jerked with the sudden upward movement, and then she curled over his neck. They were rising higher and higher, pushed aloft by the wind. The Skrill didn't even need to flap his wings. A kind of airy glory suffused them, a strange abandon that marked them as wild creatures of the storm.

"Hiccup…" Astrid began.

"Wait 'till she's done," Hiccup said, but his hands twitched nervously on the pommel of his saddle. He could feel it too – a powerful upwelling of anticipation, like that first wonderful, terrible moment when he and Toothless had made their first strike against the Green Death. Beneath him, the Night Fury shifted restlessly. He was a patient dragon, but Hiccup knew he would much rather be flying in all that glorious weather rather than merely observe it from the ground.

"She's getting up kinda high, Hiccup," Fishlegs said.

"I've been up that high," Hiccup said, squinting upwards. "She's approximately as high as Berk's tallest peak." He refrained from mentioning that she had only lifted to three-quarters the height of the thunderhead, and the Skrill was still rising.

"She shouldn't go up too high, right?" Astrid said. "Stormfly and I tried it one morning and-"

"-you can't breathe very well up there," Fishlegs interjected. "Hey, I've been on Berk's peak, too, you know!"

"Doing what, collecting rocks?" Ruffnut snickered.

"Maybe we should call her down," Snotlout suggested.

"Wait a little longer," Hiccup said, but his voice lacked conviction. Craning back his neck as far as it would go, he shaded his eyes from the sun and tried to pick them out. He shivered as the dark shadow underneath the storm finally reached them when the thunderhead swept overhead, dividing them from the sun.

"I almost can't see her anymore," Tuffnut complained. "How are we supposed to see how fast a Skrill can fly if we can't see it?"

Thunderstrike was hovering almost above the swelling crest of the thunderhead. Against its snowy surface, he looked like a flying insect. Thora herself was completely invisible at this distance.

"If they dive from there, they're going to hit the ocean like a rock," Ruffnut observed.

"Give her a second," Hiccup murmured. "Wait… there!"

Thunderstrike made a tremendous curve in his flight path against a projection of the thunderhead. Hiccup more imagined than saw one edge of his left wing cutting through the billowing surface, and then the dragon dropped like a stone. It was the steepest dive Hiccup had ever seen – the Skrill didn't even pretend to introduce an incline into his trajectory. He folded his wings flush against his body, and the whipping wind drew out tangles and threads of lightening from the sharp spines on his back.

"Hiccup, she needs to pull up, or she's going to hit the ocean too hard!" Astrid exclaimed.

"No, let her go!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut shouted together.

"Wait for it," Hiccup murmured.

With a shrill cry, Thunderstrike arched his neck and threw his wings forward. As the drag from the wind snatched at the sail skin, he leveled into a shallower descent, angling straight for the sea stacks. Even so, they were plunging too fast forward to navigate the intricate twists and turns of the sea stacks safely. At the last second, Thunderstrike opened his mouth – its interior blazed white hot – and he fired a tremendous blast towards the ocean. It exploded just underneath the sea stacks, throwing the dragon riders and their dragons back from the edge. When they recovered, Thunderstrike was whipping past them, his body pulsing with electricity. Thora glanced down at them as they shot past, her bright eyes almost wanton with an invitation to join her. Then Thunderstrike fired a second shot, angling himself in such a way that he began to ascend again at almost the same speed as his descent.

"And she said she could throw that blast behind us?" Tuffnut cried. "How cool is that!"

Hiccup never shouted the order. He and Toothless dove from the sea stacks, catching the wind and rising hard after the Skrill. Behind him, the other dragons cheered as they followed suit, leaping into the arms of the storm. As they rose from the sea stacks, the yawning mouth of the storm devoured them, drenching the air in torrents of rain. Laughs and shrieks punctuated the air as the dragons struggled to clear the downpour. "It's going to blow us clear to Berk!" Hiccup shouted as Stormfly dropped next to Toothless.

"Let's ride it all the way back!" Astrid's blue eyes gleamed with excitement.

"We'll be a sight!" Hiccup laughed. What would his father say when he saw them riding the wings of the storm? It would almost be like riding on the benediction of Thor! Glancing behind, he saw the other dragons ranged on either side, enjoying the unusual buoyancy of the wind. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were cheering as they guided their Zippleback in a series of twisting loops. Hookfang had his enormous wings at maximum extension, and his long, pink tongue lolled out of one side of his mouth as he dangled lazily. Even Meatlug was enjoying herself – her hefty jaw was open in a friendly, Gronckle grin as Fishlegs clung to her back for dear life.

And where were Thora and Thunderstrike? Hiccup caught sight of them just ahead of the leading edge of the storm. The Skrill had his enormous wings positioned perfectly to catch the wind. His rapid momentum had slowed considerably now that they were flying back to Berk. As they drew closer, he could see Thora's legs dangling free, no longer locked about the dragon's thick neck. She was relaxed, leaning back as they cruised effortlessly over the whitecaps below.

How it happened, Hiccup could never recall, but by the time he was aware of the shift in his dragon's mood, it was too late. He had inclined his body left and up slightly, angling Toothless so that they would rise even with the Skrill. Silently, the Night Fury skimmed underneath the Skrill, but instead of rising even, he passed him. Startled, Thunderstrike roared angrily and gave a furious flap with his wings. There was no mistaking the challenge ringing in his cry.

In response, Toothless's eyes narrowed to terrifying black slits as he matched Thunderstrike wingstroke for wingstroke. They were in a race before anyone else had realized what was going on.

"Pull him down, Thora!" Hiccup shouted.

Thora glanced down at him, her face ashen, and she shifted backwards against her dragon's shoulders. She was _asking_ him to stop, Hiccup realized in frustration, not _telling_ him. Thunderstrike slowed marginally, but made his anger known by wreathing his wings in a dangerous display of lightening. No longer trying to pull ahead of the Night Fury, he made sure to keep _even_ with him inch for inch.

Toothless was rippling with tension. Hiccup had never felt anything like this come from his dragon before, and it made him uneasy. Rationalizing through the concept of _species dominant_ wasn't something he had ever done before, something he had never needed to do before, especially since all of the other dragons on Berk were content to allow Toothless a kind of unofficial alpha status. But then, none of those dragons were _strike class_. Thunderstrike was. Of all the dragon classes, the strike class was the most deadly and feared. Hiccup grimly remembered that there was excellent reason for this reputation. As loveable and playful as the Night Fury was, he was also swift, deadly, and implacable once he had his target.

Perhaps the Skrill was the same.

Frowning, he began to shift back in his saddle, also asking his dragon to break from their stalemate, but Toothless refused to relent to the straining Skrill above them. He knew by the unyielding determination straining through the Night Fury that Toothless found flying with Thunderstrike different than anything they had come across before. Battling with the Green Death, leading the Screaming Death, were _games_ compared to this sustained fury, this _hostility_ Hiccup felt within his dragon. His unease bloomed into a trembling fear for what this could mean.

Berk was fast approaching now, a rapidly growing rock in the middle of the vast, tossing ocean. Hiccup glanced behind, biting back a groan when he saw that the others had receded far into the horizon thanks to the terrific speed of both Toothless and Thunderstrike. Astrid and Stormfly were the closest, close enough for him to see the worry and fury battling for mastery in her face. Shuddering, he hoped she would be reasonable when he explained that _he couldn't slow Toothless down_. Again, Hiccup tried to control his dragon, but received no response. Toothless was determined not to be left behind by Thunderstrike, and he would have had he slowed even a little. The Night Fury was still flying well within himself, his wings stroke coming strong and regular, a sign that he was both not all out yet, or exhausted.

Above them, the Skrill showed equal determination, flying as easily as the Night Fury. Thora wasn't looking at Hiccup at all – she was crouched behind Thunderstrike's erect crown, her legs locked around his neck. Her body moved effortlessly with the rise and fall of the dragon's back.

Then, the Night Fury surged ahead.

Thunderstrike screamed, wreathing himself and Thora in tangles of lightening before putting his head down and surging forward with blazing speed. He was going all out now, but so was Toothless! Hiccup found himself engulfed by the wind and the storm and realized that he and Thora could do nothing to stop either dragon. They were no longer riders but passengers, witnesses to a savage battle as old as time itself. Neither dragon would stop until the other relented or one became too exhausted to fly. Lightening shattered the air around them, thunder deafening their ears.

And so it was that when the Berkians looked up to mark the progress of the thunderhead, they saw a Night Fury and a Skrill locked in an ancient battle, one silent, deadly and dark, the other exploding in furious light. Behind them, the other dragon riders were mere dots against the overwhelming scale of the thunderstorm in hot pursuit. Several women screamed for their children, others ran indoors. A few men gripped their swords or axes.

They had flown too hard and too far. Even as they swept towards the village, Hiccup sensed a deep fatigue stealing over his dragon. Glancing up, he saw Thunderstrike faltering in his rhythm. By the time they reached the village, both dragons were blowing hard.

They landed. Stoick and Gobber ran up, their mouths full of remonstrance, but paused when they saw Hiccup and Thora stumbling onto the ground. As she tumbled from the Skrill's back, Thora cut her arm on one his dorsal spikes. Ignoring the blood trickling down her arm, she ran towards the well and drew water hastily. Hiccup followed suit. In silence, they watered their dragons, heads hung low as the dragons guzzled the cold, clear liquid. Then, before Stiock could demand an explanation, the two teens looked at each other, and the glance between them was horribly sober.

Both were beaten.

* * *

The Great Hall was silent except for a low murmur in dark corners, the soothing snap and crackle of fire, and the occasional, earthshattering boom of thunder as the storms raged outside Berk. Hiccup and Toothless had retired to a quiet nook against the damp, cool wall. Every time lightening flashed through the chinks in the massive door, or thunder shook the rock, Hiccup found himself jumping. No doubt his nerves were on edge still.

A shadow fell across his lap and he looked up to see Astrid. A few feet away, Stormfly was gobbling down fish from a half-sawed barrel. Astrid held a steaming platter in her hands – food from the laden tables on the other side of the room. "You haven't eaten yet," she stated.

"Wasn't sure it would stay down," he admitted.

Toothless had stopped gasping for breath soon after drinking. He had eaten several times since then, and much. He lay curled behind Hiccup, deeply asleep. He had been too tired to heat up the slab of hardwood he rested on.

Astrid set the platter down next to Hiccup before sitting herself. Slowly, she drew her knees up to her chin and curled her arms around her legs. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I think so," Hiccup said. "He was a little like this after we chased off the Screaming Death the last time. I think he'll be fine by morning."

"What about Thunderstrike?"

Hiccup glanced into the shadows. He could just see the immense bulk of the Skrill cloaked in darkness. Like him, Thora was curled up against her dragon's side, but her head lay in the crook between his neck and shoulder. Her mouth was slack and she was snoring lightly. Both of them looked utterly exhausted.

"He seems fine," Hiccup said slowly.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Astrid continued. "I don't know what to think about it."

Hiccup nodded wearily. He still wasn't sure what he thought about it, either. Part of him was angry at Thora for being so reckless and out of control with her dragon. There was no denying that, at least partly, she had been urging Thunderstrike to match Toothless. Why she had he wasn't sure. What exactly did she have to gain by doing so? It wasn't as though either of them had anything to prove.

But, he reminded himself, it was obvious that she could only control Thunderstrike up to a point. Their partnership was new and raw. Likely, the two of them were still testing each other's boundaries in this new, almost symbiotic relationship between dragon and man. And there could be no doubt that Thunderstrike had seen Toothless as a rival. Once the pace of flight had increased to its fevered pitch, both of them had devolved into spectators of what could've been a very dangerous battle. If the other dragon riders were unaware of this, he at least was, and he was certain Thora was, too.

"Fishlegs is going over Bork's notes again," Astrid said, breaking the sequence of his thoughts. "Said he wanted to look at strike class specifics again, or something like that."

Hiccup smiled weakly. "Fishlegs is smart."

"Yeah, just don't tell him that." Astrid glanced at him curiously. "What do you make of it all?"

"We might have bitten off more than we could chew?"

"Do you think they're going to be a danger to us?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup sighed. "I don't know. I don't think Thora's malicious if that's what you had in mind."

"Not exactly." Astrid's forehead wrinkled. She looked deeply troubled.

"Tell me what you're thinking," Hiccup said.

The girl bent over her knees, pushing up the pink skin on her cheeks until her eyes were nearly obscured. "I don't want to say it," she mumbled. "But… that night when she crashed here and Stoick was talking to her… Hiccup, there was something in his face that I didn't like."

Hiccup was frowning. "I noticed that, too. I thought he was just worried about everything."

"No, there was something about the way he looked at her. He was disturbed. And he was very particular about knowing that she was the only one who survived that shipwreck."

"I think it's pretty obvious that she's the only survivor," Hiccup said.

"How do you know? Were you there?"

"No, but… you don't think Thora could be lying, do you?"

"No, I think she was telling the truth."

"Then why are you suspecting her?"

Astrid flung her head back and her blue eyes flashed. "I'm _not_ suspecting her," she said lowly. "I'm analyzing the facts. Fact one: she was on a ship full of _dragon hunters_ and I don't think these were the kind of ship parties your father used to send to find the dragon's nest. Fact two: she was able to tame a Skrill. That's like being able to tame a Night Fury. Fact three: she went head to head with you today and _stayed there_. Even I couldn't do that."

"Taming a Night Fury," Hiccup began, but she interrupted him.

"It's not the same and you know it. Toothless is very gentle and sweet, Hiccup, but the gods help anyone who stands between you and him. It's not a little matter to earn a dragon's loyalty. And a daughter of a dragon hunter earned the loyalty of a _Skrill_." She shook her head. "And here we thought Skrills were just about gone forever."

"You're worried about Dagur?"

"A little," she admitted, "but it's what I don't know that worries me more. We know about Dagur. He's right out in the open. There's so much we don't know about Thora or the dragon hunters." She straightened her legs and leaned forward. "And she… kept up with you." Her voice dropped almost to a whisper.

Hiccup struggled not to blush. His lingering crush on Astrid had only marginally faded now that they were close friends, but there were times when her presence made him distinctly uncomfortable. Now was one of those times. "Aw, Astrid, you really don't need to take up my torch, you know," he said, looking at the ground.

"Like my dragon, I know where my loyalties lie," she said a bit severely. "But that aside… Hiccup if the dragon hunters came out here once, they're sure to come out here again. I think that's what is worrying your father."

* * *

A/N: I apologize for the delay in uploading. I caught a bad cold over spring break and I'm studying for finals. Furthermore, this chapter proved very difficult to write. My original idea didn't work at all. I hope to update more frequently over the summer.

Thank you to those of you who reviewed my story! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. **pinkpop002** , don't worry, I fully intend on Toothless remaining the "alpha" dragon of the series. I just might make him work for it a bit, though. ::winks::


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